Syracuse, NY, August 29, 2014 - New York Sea Grant is at the 2014 New York State Fair, which runs from August 21 – September 1, for a partnership effort to educate fairgoers on some of the history that took place right in their own backyards with the ‘Great Shipwrecks of NY’s Great Lakes’ exhibit.

Nearby, NYSG's Launch Steward Program and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is offering the 10-foot ‘mouse boat’ that is the 2014 New York Sea Grant Discover Clean and Safe Boating education vessel on exhibit. Stewards and Auxiliary representatives will be educating visitors about safe boating and diving and how boaters can use the easy Clean/ Drain/Dry watercraft inspection method to help slow the spread of aquatic invasive species.

The porthole entrance to the NYSG and partners displays and exhibits, which feature informative panels and a handful of interactive shipwreck and aquatic invasive species educational items. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG

New York Sea Grant program and Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers! campaign educational pull-up banners on display. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG

Tom Brooking with NY Sturgeon for Tomorrow and Dave White of New York Sea Grant with the 7-foot-long sturgeon that is joining the The Great Shipwrecks of NY’s ‘Great’ Lakes Signature Exhibit for the balance of the Great New York State Fair. Photo: Brian P. Whattam

The National Safe Boating Council's "Wear It!" campaign is a partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the National Association of State Boating Law Administrations. "'Wear It!' is the national campaign that New York State has embraced to encourage folks to wear their life jackets while out on the water," says NYSG's Recreation/Tourism Specialist Dave White.

People at the 18th-century Bateau Perservance at the exhibit. Photo: Brian P. Whattam

Members of the team that made the Great Shipwrecks of NY’s ‘Great’ Lakes Signature Exhibit at the State Fair possible include, from left, Oswego County Office of Emergency Management Director Dale Currier; Erich and Sarah Tichonuk of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum; and exhibit coordinator Dave White, coastal recreation and tourism specialist with New York Sea Grant and associate director of the Great Lakes Research Consortium. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG

A look at the exhibit's many interpretive panel displays. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG

A diver helmet from the 1940s. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG

Young vsitors to the shipwreck exhibit can dig for lost treasures. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG

Minnie plays model for kayaking, a popular recreational sport not only in New York's Great Lakes, but also in the State's marine waters. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG

Anchor on loan from the Maritime Museum in Oswego, NY. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG

GLOS buoy on trailer. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG

Michael F. Satchwell, a senior research support specialist with the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, tests the remote-operated vehicle/ROV in the State Park pool prior to the start of the 2014 Great New York State Fair. The Great Lakes Research Consortium and SUNY ESF offered demonstrations of the ROV searching for underwater items twice-daily at the Fair at 2pm and 4pm. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG

ROV interpretive panel. Photo: Brian P. Whattam

SUNY ESF grad student Frances Knickmeyer prepares to launch the remotely-operated vehicle/ROV in the State Park pool as part of The Great Shipwrecks of NY’s ‘Great’ Lakes Signature Exhibit at the 2014 Great New York State Fair. Great Lakes Research Consortium Director and SUNY ESF Professor Greg Boyer is holding the ROV control panel that will be used to locate intentionally sunk items in the pool. Photo: Brian P. Whattam

A close-up of Coastie, an animated version of an ROV. Photo: Kara Dunn for NYSG